Posted on 06/12/2010 10:07:26 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
Senator John McCain's record as a staunch conservative came under fire during his Yuma town hall meeting Friday evening at Booth Machinery, prompting the senator to fire back in his own defense with a level of fiery passion reminiscent of his younger days.
“It seems to me that every time you run for election you tack very much to the right…” Steve Replogle, a member of the Colorado River Tea Party, told McCain during the town hall.
“I have personal questions in regards to your positions. You have at times advocated cap and trade… amnesty, and the McCain-Feingold Bill made it illegal for you to publicize the voting record of an elected official within sixty days, which … seemed to me, to be the biggest assault on political free speech in the history of this country.”
Replogle said he is troubled by McCain's history and advocacy.
“I mean I had vowed that I would never vote for you again after you passed McCain-Feingold… if we can't get people to stand on their record, if we can't hold them accountable to the way that they vote, they can say whatever they want. It's what they actually do that we have to know and be able to publicize in order to have an accountable government.”
McCain responded vigorously to defend his conservatism.
“…I have received the support… and awards, from literally every conservative organization,” he said.
“…I stood up when other people were earmarking and pork barreling and (involved in) corruption. I investigated Abramoff… and he eventually ended up in jail. So did members of congress. I have fought fraud, abuse and waste throughout my time.”
As in previous speeches during his presidential campaign, McCain discussed his “maverick” approach to politics to prove his level of conservatism.
“I stood up for the surge when it was going to cost me my entire campaign…” he said.
“I fought for what I believe in. Now you may not agree with what I believe in, but I will leave it to the judgment of the organizations that grade, and support and endorse people because of what they have done.
“I will be glad to… put my record for being a fiscal conservative up against anybody's. I fought against my own party and fought against President (George W.) Bush… and you may not like some of the positions I've taken but I am a proud Ronald Reagan conservative and I am proud of my record and I'll match it up against anybody's.”
Bob Lovelace discussed the issue of immigration at length with McCain.
“We the people don't have to be afraid of social activists, and we don't have to be afraid of this La Raza socialist movement in this country,” Lovelace said.
“And we don't have to be afraid of the president of Mexico… When he crosses our border and he criticizes the laws of our state, and he says that we are prejudice and we are guilty of… racist discrimination, when we know that we are not, then senator, it is becoming very obvious to us who the bigot really is.”
Lovelace called on McCain to take immigration reform head on.
“We've got to stop this, senator…” he said.
“It doesn't matter how you phrase things. You can say, and you often do say this… you say that you never have been for amnesty meaning that you have a plan. What we are really worried about right now… is repeating the same old pattern, and that is what's fixing to happen right now. If you don't stand up… and if you are not willing to stand up, we'll find somebody else that will.”
In response, McCain said the first step is to secure the border.
“(Senator) Jon Kyl and I are committed to getting the border secured. There has been improvement in Yuma, there has not been improvement in the Tucson sector and we have to get the border done completely…”
McCain went on to talk about what other issues are important to him.
“The most important thing is to make sure that our future is secure, whether the issue be jobs, the economy, illegal immigration (or) the national security issues...” he said.
“I am most proud to be effective for the state of Arizona in Washington, and achieve a number of goals, but there's a number of goals that need to be attained , and one of them… here in Yuma is protecting our bases, protecting the men and women in the military. I think I have a very solid record on that respect.”
McCain said he has been consistently going to bat for conservatives.
“I have been fighting against this administration, and leading the fight as they have shifted to the left. I believe that the tea parties and the frustration that is being displayed across America is going to be manifested this November.”
I know all about it. I live in AZ. I still would rather have that guy than Obama, if we had only two choices, and we did.
“McCain defends his Conservatism”
In similar news:
“TitansAFC defends his superhuman powers.”
McCain is a lying skunk. I don’t know if JD can beat the Democrat candidate, but I would let him try. McCain is in the “we know best” category of legislator. He only kisses up to public opinion when he is in political trouble like now.
No surprise that Red Sun would consider McCain a “staunch conservative.” They have been run down through the years by a Democrat state senator, Jones Osborn, and a relative of Claude Pepper, Sam Pepper. It’s a far left paper with some local news thrown in.
“McCain defends his conservatism”
All that one need know about McJackass’ “conservatism” is that it is the kind of conservatism that the likes of Michael Medved and David Frum are comfortable with.
What would McCain be doing differently than Obama?
If the GOP primary voters had nominated anyone but McJackass, I would have gladly cast a vote for that candidate.
McCain is counting people to forget who was during the campaign.
All JD has to do is point to Obama’s record and show how much harder he is fighting against JD than he ever did against Obama. Then say that McCain fights harder against Republicans than he does against Democrats because he identifies philosophically and legislatively with Democrats.
If voters elect JD they are send a powerful signal. It is a long shot but a right idea.
OK McLame! For starters let’s compare your voting record to J.D. Hayworth!
Hayworth’s American Conservative Union’s (ACU) and National Journal’s (NJ) conservative voting record scores crush your scores across the board!
See American Thinker’s article: McCain and Hayworth: Tale of the Tape : “Who is more conservative -- John McCain or J.D. Hayworth?”
Conservative? Pfff! You are a RINO statist to the core.
Whatever Conservatism McCain had retired with his uniform.
Agreed. The nice thing now is there is a better choice.
J.D. Hayworth.
McCain is like an abusive spouse and the Arizona voters are like a battered wife that always takes the SOB back after a beating. Personally I’ve hated the POS for years. Nothing would give me more pleasure than seeing him humiliated this time around.
Exactly. See he was leading Conservatism. Just remember which way he was leading it. Har. Good one.
McCain is a liberal POS. One has to wonder just how much closer to being kicked to the curb he would be had Sarah Palin not endorsed his liberal arse.
“..But I would rather see him in the White House now then Obama..”
You know something, I kind of felt that way too for a bit - but at the end of the day, things happen for a reason (and yeah, I can’t stand FuBO in the White House anymore than you do).
But think of this - the Dems are showing their true faces, maybe for the first time ever; I don’t remember EVER hearing them espouse the communist/socialist line so openly and with the grin on their faces.
This is an edification moment for the country into EXACTLY who these bastards are, and there are many people waking up to them, who wouldn’t have, had McCain gotten in there and compromised with them at every opportunity.
So, even though on the surface and at the moment it’s painful, I think it’s still something positive in that we need to go through this to finally start to purge the communist/socialist elements on the dem side and the linguinie-spined RINOs on our side, so that we NEVER have to deal with this crap again.
Optimistic and simplistic? Yeah, probably. But I have to believe this is part of God’s plan to make us better and stronger.
That’s my two cents, anyway.
“I stood up when other people were earmarking and pork barreling and (involved in) corruption. I investigated Abramoff… and he eventually ended up in jail”
This ugly little runt is the master of spin. He investigated....and stopped the investigation when it got to him!
Indians, Lobbyists and Arizona Politics...OH MY!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2440173/posts
McCain Received $100,000 From Firm Of Abramoff Notoriety
A review of campaign finance filings shows that the Arizona Republican has accepted more than $100,000 in donations from employees of Greenberg Traurig, the very firm where Abramoff once reigned.
And while the report pushed for greater transparency and accountability, towards the end, McCain and the other authors seemingly put the onus for change not on Congress itself, but on the tribes that Abramoff bilked.
Those donations include several thousand dollars from registered lobbyists who represent, or have represented, businesses such as NewsCorp, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire; Spi Spirits, a Cyprus based company that has fought with the Russian government for the rights to the Stolichnaya vodka brand name; El Paso Corp, a major energy company; General Motors; and the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, a group of businesses and trade associations “concerned” about the shortage of lesser skilled and unskilled labor.
All told, McCain has received more than $400,000 from lobbying firms, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And among his major fundraisers (”bundlers”) 59 have been identified as lobbyists by the non-profit organization Public Citizen.
[snips] McCain portrays himself as a Washington maverick unswayed by special interests, referring recently to lobbyists as “birds of prey.” Yet in his current campaign, more than 40 fund-raisers and top advisers have lobbied or worked for an array of gambling interests - including tribal and Las Vegas casinos, lottery companies, and online poker purveyors.
When rules being considered by Congress threatened a California tribe’s planned casino in 2005, McCain helped spare the tribe. Its lobbyist, who had no prior experience in the gambling industry, had a nearly 20-year friendship with McCain.”
McCain has been chair of the Indian affairs committee since 2005, having served on it for many years prior. He used this position to bring down Abramoff, who was second only to handing out tribe dollars to McCain’s man Scott Reed. Some have speculated the move was not so much to rid politics of the likes of Abramoff, but to gain a monopoly on tribe campaign dollars. There’s even a book, ‘The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Jack Abramoff’ speculating McCain’s motives.
In one such article, Chuck Muth writes:
“When stories of Jack Abramoff taking various Indian tribes to the cleaners first hit the press, McCain - Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and author of the un-American, anti-free speech McCain-Feingold campaign censorship law - decided this would be an excellent opportunity to settle some old scores, help out some old pals, and do what Sen. McCain does best...get media attention for Sen. McCain.
As the Washington insider newspaper The Hill reported in March 2004, McCain wrote at least one letter on Senate letterhead praising Reed to one of Abramoff’s clients, the Saginaw Chippewa. Five days later, Abramoff was fired and the Saginaw Chippewa tribe retained Reed. In addition, columnist Bob Novak reported last December that on the eve of the investigation’s hearings, Reed handed some $200,000 in bundled contributions to McCain. Does this smell, or what?
The thing is, this McCain “investigation” looks like a real scandal in and of itself. If there are/were actual crimes involved, that’s what the Justice Department is for, not the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Instead, McCain appears to be using his committee and his position to (a) grandstand for his 2008 presidential campaign, (b) pay back conservatives who opposed him in 2000, and (c) scratch the back of a well-heeled lobbyist who is scratching right back. “
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An interesting note. McCain, as head of Indian Affairs in congress, refused to work on any issues except Abramoff (not really that committee’s venue to start with) and has irritated many of the tribal people over this.
http://64.38.12.138/News/2005/010493.asp
top individual recipient of Indian gaming money during election 2000 was none other than anti-soft money crusader Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who sits on the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs.
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John McCain, Indian Agent
I thought the days of Indian Agents deceptively crafting words to steal land and resulting in forced relocation were long gone, but now there’s a republican presidential candidate running sliming for the highest office in the land,who’s done just that. McCain introduced legislation (S1973-1 and S.1003) and claimed that legislation was justified by a non-existent range war between the Dineh and the Hopi.
http://www.nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/87/
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Listen Up! Great New Tune!
Flush the John! McCain’s Got to Go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJobkdeho88
ALSO: McCain campaign $$$ from private illegal alien detention centers.......
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2531931/posts?page=21#21
Plus see post 37
mc cane needs to hang his head in shame for all the damage(maverick!!) he’s done the the republican party. He needs to go AWAY.
Hale, you nailed it. It’s another Martin Luther moment for me.
Your thesis is prefect.
No longer will Conservatives go quietly into this long dark night.
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